3.2 Linear Collisions and Conservation of Momentum

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This photo shows a rear-end collision where the vehicles collided along a straight line-a linear collision. 

During the collision, the momentum of each of the cars involved changed, and forces acted over time to provide an impulse to each car. These interactions are complicated; the forces not only changed the momentum of each vehicle, the forces also changed the shape of each vehicle. When analyzing interactions like this we hope to determine who was responsible from a legal point of view as well as determine how to improve the design of vehicles to reduce injuries to the occupants.